Agriculture committee  I'd like to make a point around one of the things we're trying to deal with as an industry, it's the Growing Forward 2 process. A lot of our major funding initiatives, whether it's in exports or health or traceability, the way our funding is set up March 31, 2013, is kind of a ke

Agriculture committee  We've been working really hard on the traceability file for a few years now. We have it to the point now where we have most of the premises across Canada identified. We have computer systems in place to actually track animals. We're still having some issues with confidentiality a

Agriculture committee  There's no question that the efforts to keep foreign markets open is absolutely essential for us. Over 60% of the pork we produce in Canada is exported globally. We find that, in particular, some of our major markets have responded quite positively to our federal government's ini

Agriculture committee  It is. The Canadian Pork Council is brought into the discussions. We also understand what impediments our processors and traders have. Sometimes you can have access in theory, but in practicality you really don't, so understanding what all the pieces are to make it work properly

Agriculture committee  The real value we, as producers, see is that we didn't often have the opportunity to sit down at the same table with the major processors and other partners in the value chain and the federal government, quite frankly, and the people from CFIA. So it's been a great opportunity to

Agriculture committee  There's a misconception out there that we're going to make stalls disappear completely. That's not true. During the farrowing process, when they're having the piglets, and the piglets are very susceptible to having a very large mother lie on them, there's no jurisdiction saying t

Agriculture committee  We did go through a tremendous period of difficulty. It started in 2007 and ran through until about 2010. That's not to say we've had a real rosy time since, but I've always maintained that tough times make good managers. So, the ones that have survived are really quite clever in

Agriculture committee  There are about 1.3 million sows today producing 27 million hogs per year. Of that, probably 1.1 million would be housed through their production cycle, the maternity part, in gestation stalls. The part being questioned today is whether we can continue that practice into the futu

Agriculture committee  The Canadian average would probably be 22. The very best producers would have 30 plus.

Agriculture committee  About 95% of the pork we produce actually goes through a very stringent food safety process program. We've branded it Canadian quality assurance that the Canadian Pork Council manages. When we talk to other people selling branded product, they tell us we have a good story to te

Agriculture committee  Through discussions with our partners in the value chain, we've come to the conclusion that we have a problem. The problem is that more American pork comes in and our consumers are actually eating less pork year over year, so it's a double whammy. We've committed, as the Canada

Agriculture committee  We actually have an interesting thing going on in Canada. Although we're the third largest exporter of pork globally, 30% of the pork consumed in Canada actually comes from outside of Canada, mostly the United States. Part of that is because the big retail chains want to deal wit

Agriculture committee  Yes. So now we're actually getting around as an industry. We've left the branding part to the processors to date, but as producers we really feel that it's our product that we're very proud of, and we can't sell it to you as a consumer if you don't even know it's Canadian. We

Agriculture committee  The investment the federal government has made in Prince Rupert we view as very positive, but it's taken a long time to make it practical to use that port. Our major exports for pork are Japan and Korea, and we're also exporting to the Philippines and other places. The time from

Agriculture committee  If I may, the challenge with meat is that it's a product that requires swift action and refrigeration or freezing. You know, “Sell it or smell it.” It's not only the logistics of getting containers to places, it's making sure that it actually moves in a very timely manner and the